Huge call. 100% accurate, I think--both in misconduct and restart... though there will be questions (as Barton was arguing) over whether Tevez struck him first. That wouldn't have stopped Barton's elbow, though, and just would have made it a free kick coming out instead. I think Joey Barton is looking at 10 games for all that, in total.
As completely out of line as that was, I see him working. He just took a red card that in all likelihood is probably going to send his club down -- he's already been kicked out of the match... he was trying to take a City player with him, and no one took the bait. Almost immediately... a save RIGHT ON THE GOAL LINE, and the assistant referee is spot on.
Absolutely unbelievable. Total neutral and this is one of the most amazing mornings of soccer I've ever seen.
I tell you what... since we never see it too often... full marks to Aguero for staying up and not going down under that last challenge. Watching the replay, he got tackled pretty hard right before the goal. If Aguero had gone down, Mike Dean would have been faced with the refereeing decision of his life. EDIT: got my final goal-scorer confused in the commotion!
What a fabulous morning of soccer. Hate to see Bolton get relegated but someone had to - for some reason I've always liked Owen Coyle.
And a big supporter of referees, even if he does make the occasional comment about them as all top managers do. As for Barton, words fail me. 10 games MINIMUM i'd say.
So now that the we're a few hours after the fact... anyone saying Tevez should have been sent off, too? Or was his strike more careless? Not that Garratt or Dean necessarily should have caught it, but just wondering if--in a perfect world--we, as referees, think this should have been two reds? My initial reaction was 'no,' and that only Barton earned his but the free kick should have gone the other way. Also, Aguero didn't get booked for the shirt removal, I don't think. Anyone dissent from the opinion that it was obvious common sense from Dean, given all the particulars?
Interesting. Saw one that said he wasn't. Would love to see the video if it happened, merely to see how Dean went about it mechanically without stomping on the moment too much. When you think about it, though, it's really not that difficult of a card to give as A) everyone knows the rule and B) as it's a meaningless yellow, no one will really care. It's just getting the optics and timing of it right.
So in the aftermath of the red card it seemed there were a few Man City substitutes that entered the pitch. Anyone think the ref should have done anything?
No. It didn't seem to heighten the tension too much and there was nothing really major up to that point. The priority was to get Barton to the dressing room and get on with things. Booking players for technical offences during a period where Barton elbowed, stomped and then tried to headbutt someone would have looked incongruous. Leaving Tevez's initial strike aside for the moment, if Dean was going to find a reason to sanction anyone with City then, it had to involve some sort of physical contact.
Seriously, the last 30 mins of this game...... Wow! Talk about going from the lowest to the highest. Mancini was sure in meltdown mode when they were losing. Funny stuff.
Tevez's blow to Barton was very strange. I'm not sure how it would have come about unless he was just trying to wind Barton up (which of course is ridiculously easy to do). It didn't seem to stagger Barton and it was to the shoulder not the head. The game had been well played and even-tempered to that point. All of that makes me think I would have leaned to yellow, but the angle it was seen from would make a huge difference I think.
Just saw a video of Barton, and while I'm still looking for a good camera angle of the original contact between Tevez and Barton, the "cranial-rectal inversion" Barton suffered leaving the field was worthy of a send-off in itself.
Well, if you presume the FA goes strictly by whatever is reported and treats each action individually... The send off itself will be 4 games, as it was his second of the year. The stamp/attack after the red will be 5 games, as that would have been his third red card. The attempted headbutt, if reported, is then 6 games, as it would have been his fourth red card. Tack on a game for not leaving the field when being dismissed. I'd say you can expect a ban of about about 16 games. I could also envisage a scenario where they issue the 4-game suspension and then give one collective "add-on" suspension (anyone's guess as to where that would be). The lowest I can possibly see is 8 games (4 for the red, 3 for subsequent violent conduct, 1 for not leaving the field--and then attempted headbutt gets ignored), but I don't think 20 would be a stretch.
Barton has been on Twitter in the past couple hours saying... A) He doesn't think he should have been sent off. B) He claims that the subsequent actions were a tactic to get one of their players sent off and at no point did he "lose his head." C) He explicitly says that one of his teammates suggested he tried to get an opponent sent off once the red was shown. Simply astounding material. Leaving aside how this reinforces some of my personal beliefs about the perils of social media, this has to be material for additional games to his suspension. Standing by the actions, essentially, hours after the fact would erase any mitigation defense he could offer about not thinking clearly or anything of the sort.